Self-serving store



E. L. DA ROZA.

SELF SERVING STORE.

APPLICATION man DEC.,31. 1919.

Patentad Oct. 5, 1920..

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

V E. L. DA ROZA. SELF SERVING STORE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.31| 1919'- Patantad Oct. 5, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

rmwnnib 'L. m ROZA, or SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

SELF-SERVING STORE Application filed December To all whom it may concern:

citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Self- Serving Stores, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in self-serving stores in the operation of which the customers, in passing through the store,

' are obliged to follow a circuitous path and select from the various shelves or other pieces of store furniture, the goods or commodities which they desire to purchase, and one object of the present invention is to providean arrangement of the shelving and other store furniture and fixtures which will permit of the storage and-display of a maximum quantity of goods to the best'advantage and will necessitate the customers passing all of the shelves or other fixtures upon or in which the goods are stored or displayed so that customers will not overlook any of the stock.

Another object of the jinvention is to utilize to the best advantage a given'floor,

wrapping counter, basket bin, entrance and I storeroom and at the opposite sides of which exit, etc., in a, novel manner,

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel arrangement of the exit novel means for preventingkthe goods upon the'lower shelves being bro en or. otherwise damaged by customers reaching for goods upon the upper shelves.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a view partlyin plan and partly in horizontal section illustrating the arrangement embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a. view similar to Fig. 1 illustrating in detail the entrance and exit and the arrangement of fixtures in the vicinlty thereof;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 illustratin a slight modification of the invention;

Iig. 4 is a front elevation of the lobby arrangement of the store;

Fig. 5 is a detail vertical transverse sec- 31, 1919. Serial No. 348,584.

tional view taken substantially on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings, the numerals 1 and 2 indicate the side walls of the store room, 3 the floor thereof, 4 the rear wall, and 5 the front wall. Inwardly of the front wall the store-room is divided b the partition arrangement shown in Flg. 4 and indicated in general by the numeral 6, into the store'- room proper which is indicated in general by the numeral 7, and a lobby which is indicated by the numeral 8. A similar partition 9 spaced inwardly from the rear wall 4 of the storeroom provides a storage or stock room 10 at the rear.

' The partition 6 includes a section 11 which is located atthe wall 1 and which is open to provide an entrance indicated by the numeral 12. A turnstile 13 is mounted to rotate upon and partlv within the partition section 11 and being preferably of the ratchet type, is rotatable to permit of the passage 0 customers one by one into the storeroom 7 but is restrained against rotation in the opposite direction so that the:

storeroom by the are arranged tiers of shelves 15 and 16,- the shelves 15 being built up beside the walll and, extending substantially the entire length thereof from the partition section 11 to thepartitin wall 9, and the shelves 16 extending parallel to the shelves 15 and located as stated at the opposite side of the aisle 14:. While the fixtures 15 and 16 are referred to as shelves it will be understood that they may be replaced in part or in whole by fixtures of other types such for example as racks, bins, display cases, refrigerators, or in fact any fixtures or appurtenances usually employed in stores for the storage, display, or service of goods or commodities, and this holds true also of various other shelving which will presently be specifically referred to as such, this term being used chiefly as a matter of convenience in describing such fixtures as are employed in the designated locations. The shelves 16 do not extend at their forward end entirely to the partition 6 but terminate at one corner of an inclosure defined by a railing or partition structure which is indicated in general by the numeral 17 and one section of which is indicated by the numeral 18 and another section by the numeral 19. These two sections extend at right angles to each other and the section 18 extends parallel to the wall 1 and from the forward end of the shelves 16 to the plane of the rtition 6 and more specifically to a post which constitutes a part of the said partition and is located at that side of the entrance passage 12 opposite the side at which the partition section 11 is located. Preferably a curved rail 21 extends forwardly from the post 20 and constitutes a continuation, in a sense, of the railing section 18, this rail being preferably curved forwardly and laterally away from the entrance passage 12 as clearly 'shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The shelving 16 extends at its rear to the partition wall 9 but at a. point suitably spaced from said wall is interrupted to provide a cross-over passage 22 shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawin s. A section of shelving 23 extends besi e the wall 9 between the rear ends of the shelving l5 and the shelving 16. A rail 24 extends laterally from the forward side of the cross-over passage 22 and thence rearwardly medially between the shelvings 15 and 16 as indicated by the numeral 25 and serves as a means to guide the customers and compel themto pass to the rear end of the shelving 15, thence past the shelving 23, and finally forwardly past the rear endof the shelving 16 before passing through the cross-over passage 22. A similar rail 26 extends laterally in the opposite direction from the said forward side of site side of the rearend of the shelving 16 beforevturning to again move toward the front of the storeroom as indicated by the arrows in Figs. 1 and 3. The shelving 16 is open at both sides of the double construction shown in Fig. 5 of the drawin s as is also other shelving indicated by t e. numerals 27 and 28. The shelving 28 extends parallel to the shelving 16 so that the two define an aisle 29 into-which the enstomers enter as passing around the end of the rail 26- and in proceeding along this aisle, the customers may select goods from the shelves 16 and 27. The shelving 27 extends from the rear partition 9 to the inclosure 17 but is interrupted near its forward end to provide a cross-over passage 30 through which the customers may pass from the aisle 29 into an aisle 31 which is defined b the shelving 27 and the shelving 28. Rai s 32 and 33 extend laterally in opposite directions from the rear side of the passage 30 and thence forwardly at opposite sides of the plane of the shelving 27 and constitute means for guiding the customers and causing them to pass entirely to the forward ends of the shelvings 16. and

27 before passing through the passa e 30 to the rear ends of the shelvings 27 and 28 before passing through the passage 34 and to a transverse shelving 37 corresponding to the shelving 23 before passing forwardly along an aisle 38 defined by the shelving 28 and a row of shelving 39 which is built along the side wall 2 of the storeroom and which extends from the shelving 37 or artition 9 to the front partition 6; In Fig. 1 of the drawings the rails 25, 26, 32, 33, 35 and 36 are so arranged that their ends will extend somewhat beyond the respective cross-over passages so as to positively insure of the customers passing close to all of the shelving adjacent which the free ends of these rails are located. However, it may be found sufiicient to terminate these rails at points opposite the sides of the passageways from which the rails extend as clearly shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, but whether the rails are formed relatively short or considerably long, they are intended to and do serve the purpose of guiding the customers so that they are practically compelled to pass all of the goods on display in the vicinity of the ends of the aisles through which they are moving.

In order that the customers may be infiuenced to pass to the extreme forward end of the aisle 38 beforeturning toward the exit passage, to be presently described, it is preferable that the partition 17 be provided at the adjacent end of its section 19 with a rail extension 40 which is curved laterally toward the shelving 39 and thence forwardly as clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

The numerical 41 indicates in general a substantially U-shaped counter which is arranged within the bounds of the inclosure 17 and includes a side 42 spaced from the section 18 of the said inclosure, a front 43 spaced from the section 19 of the inclosure, and aside 44 spaced from the rear end portion of the shelving 39. The space between the post 20 and the adjacent corner of the side 42 of the counter is left open to provide an exit passage 45, and a turnstile 46 is mounted to rotate at this corner of the counter, the counter being recessed beneath its top as indicated by thenumeral 47 so that I the turnstile may rotate partly within this recess. The customers passing from the aisle 38 around the rail 40 will, of course, leave the-storeroom by passing in front of the counter 41 and around the side 42 of the counter and through the said exit passage 45. The counter space is indicated by thenumeral 48 and is closed at the side opposite the front of the counter by thevpartition 6 which partition may be of any desired construction at this point and ma be provided with one or more windows in mated by the numeral 49 through which baskets may be I passed, a basket rack 50 being provided at the front of the partition 6 and comprising preferably a shelf" 51 surrounded by a rail 52. A customer, before entering the store, will take a basket from this rack and after passing through the store and having selected the goods to be purchased, 'will deposit the basket and its contents at the side 44 of the counter 41. -Here the purchases will be checked and their prices totaled, the basket being returned to the basket rack and the goods being suitably Wrapped by an attendant at the said counter 41, wrapping paper rolls 53 and bag racks 54 bein preferably provided beneath the counter out for the attendants use. The customer will then pass around the side 42 of the counter at which point there will be stationed a cashier who will collect for the purchases previously totaled by the attendant at theside'44 of thecounter, and having settled for the purchases the customer will leave the storeroom through the turnstile 46.

The various tiers of shelves may be constructed or erected in any approved manner and except for a feature which will'now be described, their construction is immaterial so "far as the present invention is concerned. By reference to Fig 5 of the drawings it Wlll be noted that at the base of each tier of shelves there is provided a foot board 55 secured at its lower edge to the forward side of the lowermost shelf of the tier and in-- clined upwardly and outwardl from its said attached ed e and braced an supported by meansof .sultable bracket pieces 56- secured thereto and to the. vertical partitionor endpieces of the shelves. These foot boards extend continuously around the bottoms of 1 theptier's'of shelves and serge effectually to passage .45 and by passing the it will be evident that by having these stiles rotate partly within partition sections upon which they are mounted, the entrance and exit passages may be restricted so as to insure of the customers entering and leaving the storeroom singly. Furthermore, in this manner-there is avoided the confusion which -might result and which in fact does-result where a ratchet turnstile is mounted centrally within a passageway, as in the arrangement shown in the drawings a customer can only approach one side of-the turnstile in passing through either passageway 12 or 45 whereas in ordinary constructions there is nothing to instruct the purchaser as to which side of the turnstile must be approached.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In a self serving store, rows of shelves or the like forming between them aisles, one

of the rows beinginterrupted adjacent on? ofits ends to provide a passageway establishing communication between adjacent aisles, and guidin means extending in opposite directions rom one side only of the passageway into and lon itudinally of the aisles in the direction 0 t e said end of the respective row.

2. In a self serving store, rows of shelves of its .ends to provide a passageway establishing communication between adjacent or the like forming between them aisles, one

v of the rows being interrupted adj acent-one aisles, and rails extending in opposite directions laterally from that side-of the passageway remote from 'the adjacent ends of the aisles, the said rails or the like extending thence longitudinally of the respective aisles in the direction of the'said ends of-the aisles and to a point at leastas far advanced as the opposite side of the said passageway.

.In testim whereof I afiix m signature. 

